How could psychotherapy help me?
Understanding yourself and your relationships can be improved by attending regular psychotherapy.
You may feel: insecure in relationships and friendships; find it hard to really trust; have low self-esteem; or depression and anxiety.
Within a therapeutic space, you can gradually come to understand how these patterns originated and are repeating in the present. Resolving these and moving on from them can be difficult without the help of a therapeutic relationship that is based on trust.
To develop a trusting therapeutic relationship we go at your pace. If it has been hard to trust, then it can feel daunting to do that. It can feel unsafe. So firstly I help you to find a sense of safety in yourself.
Over time by sharing your thoughts, feelings, fears and needs, you get to understand yourself and can grow and change. Understanding why you find it hard to open up can be linked to various feelings: such as fear, shame, guilt, hate, disgust etc. These feelings can block you and lead you to feel stuck. I help you to work through these and find your voice.
What issues can I help with?
I specialise in working with the effects of trauma and especially adverse childhood experiences, like abuse, neglect, violence, loss, divorce etc. The long-term effects of these usually play-out in the present.
They can take the form of anxiety, depression, stress, low self-esteem, addiction, sexuality issues or relationship difficulties.
How do I work as a psychotherapist?
I work in a thoughtful way, helping you explore and deal with the issues you currently want to work on.
My considerable training, knowledge and experience enable me to find the best way to help you through your painful feelings.
I combine my understanding of psychodynamics, attachment theory and mentalization with EMDR or trauma-focused CBT to help you address and process what lies beneath your immediate difficulty.
Reprocessing ‘old stuff’ allows it to be put into the past so that it does not keep getting triggered in the present. You are then freer to embark on the next phase of your life.
Talking with a qualified and experienced psychotherapist in a safe and supportive environment can give you the space to reflect on your feelings and behaviour. The pain of the past can dominate your life and sorting out the feelings you have can seem overwhelming. Understanding yourself and the feelings you have empowers you to work through your current difficulties. I aim to help you in this journey.
Usually we meet weekly and have an open-ended timeframe. The session is unstructured and led by you. This can feel unusual and uncomfortable at first. However such a unique, regular space in your life gives you the opportunity to explore and integrate your internal and external worlds, your past and present so that gradually you are able to live more fully as the person you are.
I am committed to working collaboratively and ethically with you, to help you cope and move on from your current difficulties. The people I work with come from different backgrounds and have a range of relationship, emotional and mental health difficulties.